It has been my impression that Christianity is not a multiple choice religion and the Bible not a "Hints from Heloise" that you can pick and choose from.
Now, I will grant you that the New Testament resonates much more with me than the Old Testament and I have to say that the Old Testament, aka the Jewish Bible, gives me problems with the portrayal of a less than infallible supreme being who argued with his subjects, screwed up so badly the first time that he wiped the slate out and began anew, and all the justifications in the OT for war and vengeance, laying waste to entire tribes and cities, treatment of women as property and not human beings, etc.. But I realize that it was written, reinterpreted and had the final scriptures chosen by men who not only reflected the attitudes of the times but also had their own agendas in embuing power to the church and to men. Even so, the magnificance of the core message that survives stands as a testament to the enduring greatness of the Bible to me.
What really bugs me though, are those I call "pick and choose Christians" who like to select scripture, often taken out of context, to support their views and prejudices and condemn others while plainly ignoring the passages that disagree with them. Kind of like looking upon your neighbor with envy for his beautiful wife and new car whilst lusting after his wife and condemning him for his greed.
It wasn't the six or seven commandments, ya know.
DQ
i have found the bible to be universally true and having at least seven different levels of meaning. there is plenty there for everyone. it does not lend itself to any one personal interpretation.
It is interesting to watch programs such as those on the History Channel. They do a lot of programs on religion and the Bible. A few things I have seen on these programs include the fact that there are over 200 different Bibles and the numerous contradictions within these Bibles because they have been rewritten so many times by man as a means of control and to explain individual interpretations. Yet every religion and every Bible claims that it is the only truth.